Nice haircut you got there, Greek bond holders

In financial parlance, when an investor or bondholder gets a "haircut," it means his holdings have been devalued by a certain percentage in the interest of stabilizing a company. It is usually a number handed down by a bankruptcy judge or an agreement entered into with the company seeking to lowers its debts.
In the case of private investors who hold sovereign debt bonds from Greece, it looks like it's going to be a flattop:
Reuters:
Private holders of Greek debt may need to accept losses of up to 60 percent on their investments if Greece's debt mountain is to be made more sustainable in the long-term, a downbeat analysis by the EU and IMF showed on Friday.
Euro zone finance ministers threw Greece a lifeline on Friday by agreeing to approve an 8 billion euro loan tranche that Athens needs next month to pay its bills.
But the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund -- the so-called troika -- issued a gloomy report on Greece's ability to pay its...(Read Full Post)